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Jet Lag

Date: Jul 17 2009

Themes: Health, Travel

Grammar: Be Able To

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Intro

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Over the last 100 years, new technology has made it faster, easier, and far more common for people to travel internationally. But one challenge that technology still hasn’t overcome is jet lag.

Most people experience jet lag when they travel long distances and cross into a different timezone. Being jet lagged is basically like having the clock inside your body set to the wrong time. Symptoms usually include fatigue, trouble sleeping, and feeling generally out of sync.

Jet lag can put a damper on a fun trip, but some people find creative ways to deal with it. If you can’t sleep and you’re in a cool new city, you might as well go out and party, right?

Listen to Jason and Marni talk about their experiences with jet lag.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Marni

Jason

Marni: Oh God, I just got off a plane, I was on a plane for three hours flying back from Los Angeles. I just feel so jet lagged.

Jason: Los Angeles, that’s the same timezone that we’re already in.

Marni: It does not matter. I could swear, I can be in a plane for like an hour…It must be something about the pressurization of the cabin. I get so jet lagged, I’m just tired…

Jason: For me it’s not so bad as long as I’m going the right direction. Like if I leave in the daytime and sort of fly with the sun across the ocean, then it just seems like a really long day.

Marni: Are you able to sleep?

Jason: Yeah. I’ll be able to sleep and my schedule won’t be thrown off. But going the other way, I end up totally wired at like three in the morning. It’ll be three in the morning and I’ll feel like my body’s like, “Time to get up now!”

Marni: Right. You know what always throws me is like if you’re flying internationally you get like multiple meals on a plane, it just seems so weird, like you ate dinner and then the next thing you know you’re having breakfast.

Jason: Yeah, it’s only like two hours later.

Marni: Yeah, and you’re not hungry at all. Oh man.

Jason: It is a small price to pay to like travel around the world, which used to take months and horses and ships and what have you.

Marni: It’s true. I can handle a few days of jet lag to be in an amazing place, so it’s worth it. But wow, I don’t like the feeling.

Grammar Point

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Discussion

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Marni feels jet lagged after flying home from LA, even though it was only a three hour flight and she didn’t have to leave her timezone. Jason is surprised, but Marni says that she always feels tired and out of sync after she flies.

Jason only experiences jet lag when he flies long distances in a certain direction. Some people find that it’s easier to stay up late than to get up early, so they have an easier time flying from west to east.

People try to get over jet lag in different ways. Some take pills to help them sleep normally, or drink lots of coffee so they won’t feel exhausted. But it can still take several days to adjust to being in a different time zone.

Have you ever experienced jet lag? How did you deal with it?

Comments

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teddy008

China

I used to travel too much, but only one time that I had jet lag, that's a four hours journey and accross one time zone. How is feeling? Not too bad, when I got up at the eight o'clock, it's still black outside. Everyone began to work at ten o'clock, but I feel tired